On Top Of A Mountain

I got a chance to see a beautiful building on Wednesday...the Oakland Temple. It's the first California temple I have had a chance to visit, and it set the bar pretty high for the rest of them! What a magnificent structure!

This temple was announced in 1962 and ground was immediately broken for construction to commence. It took just over two years to build and was dedicated in November of 1964. It is the only temple with five pillars, and these particular pillars were designed with the ethnicity of the Oakland residents in mind. The temple was HUGE! Probably about the same size as the Mesa Temple that I posted pictures of a few weeks ago.

We went to the Visitor's Center to see an art display by Walter Rane. He was commissioned by the First Presidency to paint scenes from the Book of Mormon over the past few years. His work was breath-taking, and it was fun to get a narration by an art student/sister missionary. Such a neat spirit is felt on temple grounds!

Sunday Babies

When I first began this blog (two years ago next month...wha?), the title was completely justified. I was leaving every Monday morning at 6:00 AM and returning Friday evening after flying over twenty hours over the course of the week to places all over the continent. The past few months have been a little, well, slow. I almost wonder if this blog should temporarily be called "The Adventures of the Camera-Loving Aunt," because I sure do take lots of pictures of babies any time I am around them. While getting ready for church yesterday morning, I picked up my phone to text T'liese to see if they wanted to come over for dinner since I hadn't seen their baby for two weeks and was starting to get a little weird because of it. I started a message, only to receive one from her inviting us over for a visit that evening! And baby Mayla was going to be there, too! It was a win-win situation that we couldn't resist. Because of the temporary name of my blog, I had to live up to such expectations.

So away we went to Phoenix. As we got there, Joe used some chocolate chips that we brought to make some delicious cookies. T'liese fed and changed Evan so he would be more fun for the rest of the evening, but he sure looks cute in stripes! Mayla and her parents soon arrived. She is three months now and locks on faces really well. I love her sweet smile and her "cooing" conversations. She is a sweetheart for sure. Evan is starting to smile more and simply makes my heart melt with his halfway grin. I dare say we have some pretty cute babies in the family.

While they both went down for a nap, the adults had to find something else to do other than kiss on babies. It was difficult at first, but we soon settled into a nice catch-up conversation. Have I ever mentioned how much I enjoy having family so close? I really do. I have a great sister, and she married a great guy. I have a fun brother, and he married an incredible lady. Luckily, we all get along. It's a treat to spend time with them. And the cookies only made it sweeter.

Game Night and Everybody Wins

We live close to lots of John's family, and Amber decided to take advantage of it by suggesting we have a game night. Brilliant! The scheduled fun arrived last night, and the food was the star of the show! We actually didn't even play any of the board games but just enjoyed chatting with each other and catching up on our lives.

Some big changes are about to take place. Tyler and Amber will be done with Law School in about two weeks. He will then work and study for the Bar, which will be taken in July. The downside is that it will be tough to get a real lawyer job until he gets the results back in September. They plan to find an apartment to rent once Bill and Ann return this October.

Andy and Barbara are doing well. He has to re-certify as a Physician's Assistant every six years, and this will be his first this summer. Lots of studying is involved in preparation, and Barbara is in favor of him passing! I am sure he will. Barbara is busy raising four good-looking kids and keeping her house in immaculate condition. It was nice of her to offer their home to host our game night.

The food. Wow! We ended up having slightly too much, but that didn't stop us from enjoying it all! John and I brought Homemade Oreo Cookies, Chicken Quesadilla Rollups, Spinach and Artichoke Puff Pastries, Jalapeno Poppers, and a few bottles of various soda. Tyler and Amber brought some fresh strawberries and Fruit Slammers, some frozen fruit slushies that are delicious (I know from personal experience since she shared some last week after some intense yard work). Andy and Barbara kept bringing food out, and my picture didn't even capture the end product! Red Vines, Trail Mix, Chips and Salsa, Easter Candy, and all sorts of Mexican donuts! We ended up covering the game table, which nobody seemed to mind. Except John and I (snicker snicker), everyone had switched babysitting nights to have this evening free. So the house was nice and quiet with minimal interruptions from little ones. We just sat around, flapping our gums at the food and each other. For a few minutes, we played our quick-paced trivia game, Tip of the Tongue. But it kept interrupting our conversation, so I put it away!

It was a nice evening out with family. Tyler and Amber left around 8:30 to pick up their kids, and we stayed for a while longer to be shown how Netflix now works on the Wii. We will restart our Netflix account after John is done with school (three weeks!), and it's neat to know we can stream it on our Wii instead of watching it online! Technology these days! Barbara had never seen anything Saturday Night Live, so we watched The Best of Adam Sandler to introduce her to the good stuff. Operaman was a hit! It was a nice conclusion to a nice evening full of friends and food.